Ivor Gurney

Short bio Ivor Gurney

Birthday: 1890 in Gloucester, England

Died: 1937 in Dartford, Kent, England

Genre: Classical,Avant-Garde

Period: Modern

Full biography Ivor Gurney

Ivor Gurney (1890-1937) was an English poet and composer , best known for his beautiful songs. He was born and raised in Gloucester, where he showed an early musical talent, writing his first compositions by the age of 14. Gurney went on to study at the Royal College of Music in London.

During the First World War, Gurney served as an infantryman on the Western Front, an experience that deeply affected him and influenced much of his subsequent work. After the war, Gurney continued to write both songs and poetry. In addition to his compositions, Gurney published several collections of poetry, including "Severn and Somme" (1917) and "War's Embers" (1919).

Despite his talent and early success, Gurney struggled with mental illness throughout his life. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and spent much of his adult life in psychiatric hospitals. Throughout his travails, Gurney continued to write both poems and music, often in wild outbursts of creativity. He wrote over 300 songs in his lifetime, as well as chamber music and several song cycles.

Today, Gurney is regarded as one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century. His songs have been performed and recorded by many notable artists, including Bryn Terfel, Ian Bostridge, and John Mark Ainsley. Several books have also been written about his life and work, including "Dweller in Shadows: A Life of Ivor Gurney" by Kate Kennedy and "Like Buttermilk from a Jug: Ivor Gurney's Groove" by Oliver Soden. Gurney's legacy lives on, and he continues to be celebrated as one of England's most talented and visionary artists.

Compositions featuring Ivor Gurney

#	Name	Duration	Genre	Year
1	Western sailors, for voice & piano	2:36 min	Vocal Music	1926
2	Since I believe in God the Father Almighty, for double chorus	5:52 min	Vocal Music	1925
3	Western Watercolours (5), for piano	11:10 min	Keyboard	1923
4	Sonata for cello & piano in E minor	12:50 min	Chamber Music	1921
5	Down by the Salley Gardens, for voice & piano	2:30 min	Vocal Music	1921
6	God Mastering Me, for chorus & organ	3:20 min	Choral	1921
7	An Epitaph, for voice & piano	2:31 min	Vocal Music	1920
8	Black Stitchel, for voice & piano	2:14 min	Vocal Music	1920
9	War Elegy, for orchestra	11:11 min	Orchestral	1920
10	Hawk and Buckle for voice & piano	1:11 min	Vocal Music	1920
11	Ha'nacker Mill for voice & piano	2:19 min	Vocal Music	1920
12	Walking song, for voice & piano	0:54 min	Vocal Music	1919
13	Ludlow and Teme, song cycle for voice, string quartet & piano	19:21 min	Vocal Music	1919
14	The Apple Orchard, for voice & piano	1:31 min	Vocal Music	1919
15	Lights out, for voice & piano	6:50 min	Vocal Music	1919
16	The Fields Are Full, for voice & piano	1:44 min	Vocal Music	1919
17	Scherzo	5:05 min	Chamber Music	1919
18	The Carol of the Skiddaw Yowes, for voice & piano	1:54 min	Vocal Music	1919
19	Sonata for violin & piano in E flat major	34:40 min	Chamber Music	1918
20	The Scribe, for voice & piano	2:42 min	Vocal Music	1918
21	The Fiddler of Dooney, for voice & piano	1:55 min	Vocal Music	1918
22	The white cascade, for voice & piano	1:57 min	Vocal Music	1918
23	Desire in Spring, for voice & piano	2:27 min	Vocal Music	1918
24	On the Downs for voice & piano	1:45 min	Vocal Music	1918
25	Cranham Woods for voice & piano	0:47 min	Vocal Music	1918
26	Song of silence, for voice & piano	3:31 min	Vocal Music	1918
27	On Wenlock Edge, for voice & piano	2:53 min	Vocal Music	1918
28	Red roses, for voice & piano	2:40 min	Vocal Music	1918
29	Captain Stratton's fancy, for voice & piano	2:38 min	Vocal Music	1917
30	Severn Meadows for voice & piano	1:58 min	Vocal Music	1917
31	In Flanders for voice & piano	3:03 min	Vocal Music	1917
32	By a Bierside for voice & piano	4:25 min	Vocal Music	1916
33	Dreams of the sea, for voice & piano	4:09 min	Vocal Music	1914
34	The Twa Corbies, for voice & piano	4:22 min	Vocal Music	1914
35	Sleep, song for voice & piano (Elizabethan Songs No. 4)	3:10 min	Vocal Music	1912
36	I Praise the Tender Flower for voice & piano	2:30 min	Vocal Music	1912
37	Sehnsucht (Longing), for piano	4:06 min	Keyboard	1909
38	Song of the Summer Woods, for piano	3:11 min	Keyboard	1909
39	The Sea, for piano	1:55 min	Keyboard	1908
40	Despair, for piano	2:22 min	Keyboard	1908
41	Dearest, when I am dead, for voice & piano	1:48 min	Vocal Music	1908
42	On your midnight pallet, for voice & piano	1:58 min	Vocal Music	1907
43	The "Elizas", Elizabethan Songs (5) for voice & piano	12:57 min	Vocal Music	-
44	Spring, song for voice & piano (Elizabethan Songs No. 5)	2:37 min	Vocal Music	-
45	Tears, song for voice & piano (Elizabethan Songs No. 2)	3:38 min	Vocal Music	-
46	The Boat is Chafing, for voice & piano	1:25 min	Vocal Music	-
47	Tarentella, for voice & piano	3:15 min	Vocal Music	-
48	You Are My Sky, for voice & piano	2:36 min	Vocal Music	-
49	The Singer, for voice & piano	2:33 min	Vocal Music	-
50	A Gloucestershire Rhapsody, for orchestra	18:01 min	Orchestral	-
51	When Death to either shall come for voice & piano	1:31 min	Vocal Music	-
52	Under the greenwood tree, song for voice & piano (Elizabethan Songs No. 3)	1:40 min	Vocal Music	-
53	To Violets, for voice & piano	1:06 min	Vocal Music	-
54	To E. M. H. --a Birthday Present from Ivor, for piano	2:47 min	Keyboard	-
55	Thou Didst Delight my Eyes, for voice & piano	3:06 min	Vocal Music	-
56	The Western Playland, for voice & piano	26:01 min	Vocal Music	-
57	The Trumpet, for chorus & orchestra	5:45 min	Choral	-
58	The bonnie Earl of Murray, for voice & piano	1:47 min	Vocal Music	-
59	The Ship, for voice & piano	2:28 min	Vocal Music	-
60	The Night of Trafalgar, for voice & piano	2:20 min	Vocal Music	-
61	The Ghost, for voice & piano	3:33 min	Vocal Music	-
62	The Folly of Being Comforted, for voice & piano	4:41 min	Vocal Music	-
63	The Dying Patriot, song for voice & piano	3:06 min	Vocal Music	-
64	The Cloths of Heaven, for voice & piano	2:43 min	Vocal Music	-
65	The Cherry trees, for voice & piano	1:07 min	Vocal Music	-
66	Cradle Song for voice & piano	2:18 min	Vocal Music	-
67	I Heard a Soldier, song for voice & piano	2:40 min	Vocal Music	-
68	Goodnight to the Meadow, for voice & piano	1:21 min	Vocal Music	-
69	Fain would I change that note, for voice & piano	2:46 min	Vocal Music	-
70	Everyone Sang, for voice & piano	2:04 min	Vocal Music	-
71	Even Such is Time, for voice & piano	2:55 min	Vocal Music	-
72	Epitaph in Old Mode, for voice & piano	2:59 min	Vocal Music	-
73	Edward, Edward, for voice & piano	5:49 min	Vocal Music	-
74	Dinny Hill, for voice & piano	0:51 min	Vocal Music	-
75	I shall be ever maiden for voice & piano	2:36 min	Vocal Music	-
76	Chorale Prelude on Rockingham, for piano	5:17 min	Keyboard	-
77	Cathleen Ni Houlihan, for voice & piano	2:55 min	Vocal Music	-
78	Brown Is My Love for voice & piano	1:37 min	Vocal Music	-
79	Bread and Cherries for voice & piano	0:45 min	Vocal Music	-
80	Blaweary, for voice & piano	1:28 min	Vocal Music	-
81	All Night under the Moon for voice & piano	3:37 min	Vocal Music	-
82	A Picture, for piano	2:45 min	Keyboard	-
83	Nocturnes (2), for piano	12:33 min	Keyboard	-
84	Sowing for voice & piano	3:15 min	Vocal Music	-
85	Snow	2:24 min	Miscellaneous (Classical)	-
86	Sleep, for voice & piano	3:19 min	Vocal Music	-
87	Sappho Songs (7), for soprano & piano	14:38 min	Vocal Music	-
88	Revery, for piano	3:38 min	Keyboard	-
89	Preludes (9), for piano	17:36 min	Keyboard	-
90	Ploughman singing for voice & piano	2:25 min	Vocal Music	-
91	Orpheus, song for voice & piano (Elizabethan Songs No. 1)	2:25 min	Vocal Music	-
92	Spring	2:41 min	Miscellaneous (Classical)	-
93	Nine of the Clock, for voice & piano	0:47 min	Vocal Music	-
94	Most Holy Night, for voice & piano	3:32 min	Vocal Music	-
95	Latmian Shepherd, for voice & piano	3:56 min	Vocal Music	-
96	Last Hours, for voice & piano	4:34 min	Vocal Music	-
97	In Memoriam, Easter 1915, song for voice & piano	1:04 min	Vocal Music	-
98	If We Return, song for voice & piano	1:57 min	Vocal Music	-
99	I will go with my father a-ploughing, for voice & piano	2:40 min	Vocal Music	-

Albums featuring Ivor Gurney

#	Name album	Year	Music label
1	Sulyen Caradon \| William Carnell \| David Crocker \| Brian Daubney \| Graham Garton \| Ivor Gurney \| Frank Harvey (3) \| Robert Hugill \| Janet Oates \| Michael Watts (7) \| Dennis Wickens \| Simon Willink – Sappho, Shropshire & Super-Tramp: A Collection Of Mo	2017	Divine Art
2	Gurney, Warlock, Butterworth – Heracleitus(CD, Album)	2016	EM Records (10)
3	Gurney, Scott, Venables, Richard Jenkinson, Benjamin Frith – The Moon Sails Out(CD, Album)	2015	EM Records (10)
4	Frank Bridge, Ivor Gurney – An Elegy For War	2014	BBC Music Magazine
5	Vaughan Williams • Finzi • Gurney • Butterworth - Roderick Williams (3) • Jeremy Irons, City Of London Choir • London Mozart Players, Hilary Davan Wetton – Flowers Of The Field(CD, )	2014	Naxos
6	Gurney, Sainsbury, Elgar, Rupert Marshall-Luck, Matthew Rickard – Works For Violin & Piano(CD, Album)	2013	EM Records (10)
7	Ralph Vaughan Williams, Ivor Gurney, Iain Burnside – The Sons Of The Morning: Piano Music Of Ralph Vaughan Williams And Ivor Gurney(CD, Album)	2012	Albion Records (5)
8	Ivor Gurney, Susan Bickley, Iain Burnside – Songs -(CD, )	2009	Naxos
9	Vaughan Williams, Venables, Gurney - Andrew Kennedy, Dante Quartet, Simon Crawford-Phillips – On Wenlock Edge(CD, Album)	2008	Signum Classics
10	Elgar, Kelly, Gurney, Parry, Elkington, David Lloyd-Jones, Susan Gritton, Andrew Kennedy, BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra – The Spirit Of England(CD, Album, Reissue, Stereo)	2006	Dutton Epoch
11	Mark Bebbington, Ivor Gurney, Howard Ferguson (3) – Piano Music By Ivor Gurney & Howard Ferguson(CD, Album)	2004	Somm
12	Ivor Gurney, Paul Agnew (2), Julius Drake – Severn Meadows (Songs By Ivor Gurney)(CD, Album)	2001	Hyperion
13	Parry, Stanford, Finzi, Gurney : Christopher Maltman, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Martyn Brabbins – English Orchestral Songs(CD, Album)	1999	Hyperion
14	Vaughan Williams, Gurney, Adrian Thompson, Stephen Varcoe, Delmé Quartet, Iain Burnside – A Shropshire Lad - Three Song Cycles To Poems By AE Housman	1990	Hyperion
15	Butterworth, Gurney - Luxon, Willison – Butterworth & Gurney Songs (When I Was One-And-Twenty)(CD, Album, Stereo)	1990	Chandos
16	Alan Gravill - Ivor Gurney, Edward Elgar – The Piano Music Of Ivor Gurney And Edward Elgar(CD, )	1990	Gamut Classics
17	Ian Partridge • Jennifer Partridge, Ivor Gurney, Frederick Delius – English Songs(CD, Album, Reissue)	1989	Etcetera Records B.V.
18	Finzi / Warlock / Moeran / Somervell / Parry / Gurney / Plumstead / Coates / Quilter - Graham Trew, Roger Vignoles – Songs To Shakespeare(LP, Stereo)	1981	Hyperion
19	Gurney / Vaughan Williams - Martyn Hill, Graham Johnson (2), The Coull String Quartet – Ludlow And Teme / On Wenlock Edge(LP)	1981	Hyperion
20	Ivor Gurney • R. Vaughan Williams • Frederick Delius • Peter Warlock • Ian Partridge • Jennifer Partridge – English Songs(2×LP, Stereo)	1980	Oxford University Press
21	Britten - Holst - Gurney - Quilter - Bush - Warlock – An Album Of English Songs	1977	Enigma Records (8)
22	Severn And Somme - Songs And Poems By Ivor Gurney(LP)	1977	Pearl
23	Parry, Stanford, Quilter, Warlock, Gurney - Sarah Leonard, Malcolm Martineau – A Portrait Of English Song(2×CD, Album, Compilation)	-	Portrait Classics